Cedar City, Utah – The Southern Utah Thunderbirds faced off against the Idaho Vandals in a Big Sky Conference rematch on Thursday night, eventually falling to their Big Sky foe 68-44.
With the loss the T-Birds move to 4-16 overall this season, with 2-8 record in the Big Sky Conference.
The Thunderbirds’ most recent victory came in their first matchup against the Vandals. This game had a much different feel to it, however, as Southern Utah was playing without their two leading scorers, Trey Kennedy and James McGee. The two sat due to a violation of team rules.
Southern Utah scored the first basket of the game, but unfortunately for the Thunderbirds, that lead would be their last of the night.
Idaho came out strong, immediately establishing a presence in the paint.
Midway through the first half, with the Thunderbirds trailing by nine, Christian Thompson came off the bench to hit a three pointer, closing the gap to 16-10.
The Thunderbirds were able to tie up the game with a little under three minutes left in the first half. Southern Utah held Idaho scoreless for over four minutes, a stretch in which they forced five Idaho turnovers.
But despite their hard work, the Thunderbirds proved to be their own worst enemy as mental lapses and fouls away from the ball allowed the Idaho’s Chad Sherwood to score back-to-back corner threes.
“The guys really battled back and did a great job executing the gameplan in the first half, controlling the tempo, being solid defensively,” said Southern Utah head coach Nick Robinson. “But at the end of the first half when Sherwood hit a couple of threes and we missed a couple front ends, that six point advantage proved to be a difference in the game. Going into halftime, we didn’t really have that pep in the step that we needed in order to match.”
The score at the half was a 28-22.
The Vandals were able to start the half on a 5-0 run, which enabled them to continue dictating the flow of the game.
A scary moment at the 14:38 mark, Idaho’s Chris Sarbaugh collided with Race Parsons and took a hard fall. Sarbaugh had to be helped off the court. He would later re-enter the game.
With less than twelve minutes left in the game, Idaho had only allowed five Thunderbird points in the half. At the midpoint, Southern Utah trailed 49-30.
From that point, Idaho steadily built upon their lead, with the Thunderbirds never getting within 19 points of the Vandals for the rest of the game. The end score of the game was 68-44, a 24 point Idaho victory.
Casey Oliverson, John Marshall and Race Parsons each recorded nine points and led the Thunderbirds in scoring. The Vandals were led by Ty Egbert, who finished with 12 points and four rebounds. Southern Utah was outscored 28-12 in the paint and allowed 16 points off turnovers.
McGee and Kennedy will re-join the team on Saturday.
The Thunderbirds return to Centrum Arena to play Eastern Washington on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
A livestream of the game can be heard over the airwaves on KSUB 590 and a livestream of the game can be viewed online at WatchBigSky.com
Hayden Coombs 